lf
for me, you may; I've had more nor enough of it."

In a few minutes the deer and the hare were lashed to the sledge--which
the Irishman asserted was a great improvement, inasmuch as the carcass
of the former made an excellent seat--and they were off again at full
gallop over the floes. They travelled without further interruption or
mishap until they drew near to the open water, when suddenly they came
upon a deep fissure or crack in the ice, about four feet wide, with
water in the bottom. Here they came to a dead stop.

"Arrah! what's to be done now?" enquired O'Riley.

"Indeed I don't know," replied Fred, looking toward Meetuck for advice.

"Hup, cut-up ice, mush, hurroo!" said that fat individual. Fortunately
he followed his advice with a practical illustration of its meaning.
Seizing an axe he ran to the nearest hummock, and, chopping it down,
rolled the heaviest pieces he could move into the chasm. The others
followed his example, and, in the course of an hour, the place was
bridged across, and the sledge passed over. But the dogs required a
good deal of coaxing to get them to trust to this rude bridge, which
their sagacity taught them was not to be depended on like the works of
nature.

A quarter of an hour's drive brought them to a place where there was
another crack of little more than two feet across. Meetuck stretched
his neck and took a steady look at this as they approached it at full
gallop. Being apparently satisfied with his scrutiny, he resumed his
look of self-satisfied placidity.

"Look out, Meetuck, pull up!" cried Fred in some alarm; but the
Esquimaux paid no attention.

"O morther, we're gone now, for iver," exclaimed O'Riley, shutting his
eyes and clenching his teeth as he laid fast hold of the sides of the
sledge.

The feet of the dogs went faster and faster until they pattered on the
hard surface of the snow like rain. Round came the long whip, as
O'Riley said, "like the shot of a young cannon," and the next moment
they were across, skimming over the ice on the other side like the wind.

It happened that there had been a break in the ice at this point on the
previous night, and the floes had been cemented by a sheet of ice only
an inch thick. Upon this, to the consternation even of Meetuck himself,
they now passed, and in a moment, ere they were aware, they were passing
over a smooth, black surface that undulated beneath them like the waves
of the sea and crackled fearfully.